


Letting Your Guard Down

by ConfessionForAnotherTime



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Blood, Death, M/M, implied Felix/Tucker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 19:24:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2121798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConfessionForAnotherTime/pseuds/ConfessionForAnotherTime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Wash learns the hard way not to let his guard down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Letting Your Guard Down

The gravel outside the Feds base scraped against Wash’s armor as he scrambled back. He scrambled back to where his DMR had been thrown, dodging the volley of bullets from both Feds and New Republic. 

Felix and Locus had taken word back to each of their respective armies that their allies had fallen, killed in battle. Their return though had garnered them more anger than anything. Each respective army had each decided that the Reds and Blues had turned on them, creating a third source of conflict in their battle.

Wash had found himself less than bothered to have Locus and the Feds turn against him and the others, especially with Dr. Grey accompanying them into Abandon. Everyone he vaguely trusted was with him, and the reunion with his former teammates had softened the anger of the inevitable betrayal at Locus’ hand. 

Tucker hadn’t been so lucky. He had believed all of the lies and charm that Felix had shoved down his throat. He had fed into Felix’s words, letting his own idealism at the idea of being the hero in this conflict completely get in the way of looking for any reason not to trust him. Tucker felt he had fucked up, not just from trusting a someone as twisted and evil as Felix, but for putting the lives of kids in danger to be able to get his own people back. 

Each of them had their own reasons for wanting to turn Locus and Felix into their own bleeding pile, but the attack they had planned was going in every direction than the one they had planned. Wash had lost view of Tucker not long after the New Republic army attacked, presumably with Felix grinning behind his visor as Locus looked on, rolling his eyes. Wash noticed that each of them stayed out of one another’s sights, interrupting the open communication between the two of them since they stopped jamming communications and instead spoke on a channel that wouldn’t be included on the aging junk armor that the UNSC would have pushed off on a dying planet like Chorus. 

Wash spied a flash of aqua as he scrambled for the cave on the opposite end of the base from where he had seen Tucker last. The four buildings provided cover from the vehicles on the map, but the soldiers that lay inside were far from friendly. Wash had hoped that the Federation soldiers would pity him and not fire on sight, but considering they were instructed to watch him or ignore him, he was having little luck in that department. The flash of aqua blurred into the cave, a string of obscenities following it. 

“CAROLINA. For the love of God, warn me before you’re going to set in the speed unit,” Epsilon shouted, appearing on her left.

“No time E--Church. Had I waited, I would be a splatter, and you would be sold to the highest bidder,” she replied with a pant, a hint of humor in her voice, “besides, you’re in my head. You should be ready for anything.”

“A little warning would be nice.”

“Shut up you two. What’s it like out there?” Wash said hastily, dismissing their playful tone in the battlefield. 

“About what you would expect. Everyone is trying to go for the crippling blow as opposed to the killing blow. Tucker advised it considering he doesn’t want to take anyone out that they would consider a friend. He mentioned two soldiers for the New Republic: Palomo and Smith, if that rings a bell. Caboose was delighted to see Smith, but the soldier was cautious at best. Last I heard, he was radioing what he called the other lieutenants to let them know what was going on. Hopefully that means we will have some help in this instead of it being us against two armies,” Carolina explained as she reloaded, lining up her sights. 

“We can hope. Do you know what frequency Tucker changed to? I haven’t heard him at all since he ran off with Caboose. He said he was going to tell Caboose who was helping them, so you know how many people we’ve taken out at this point,” Wash sighed, his head dropping, “I’m worried, Carolina. I haven’t seen Tucker this fired up to take someone out… ever. Before we crashed on this planet, nothing really got Tucker’s blood boiling quite as much as this conflict has.”

“Probably has a lot to do with Felix lying to him. Even if he wouldn’t use that word to describe what he did.”

“Probably. Come on, let’s move out. With any luck, we’ll find Doyle and hopefully I can convince him we aren’t the threat.” Wash motioned for Carolina to follow him through the cave to the raised building embedded in the cliff.

\---

“Well. Shit.”

“Wash, I don’t think Doyle is going to help us,” Church pointed out as they stared at the unmoving armor on the floor. From the looks of it, Felix has gotten the drop on the officer and stabbed through the weak point in his visor, shattering the small bubble in the middle of his helmet. 

“Carolina, Wash, I don’t think this is helpful, but shit’s pretty fucked right now.”

“Thank you Epsilon,” Wash quipped, walking through the holo, ignoring Epsilon’s cries of annoyance. 

“Wash, I’m going to head out the other end of the base and look for Grif or Simmons over where they initially ran into you,” Carolina explained, “we need to rally back together and figure out a new plan of attack. This one isn’t working.”

“I agree. I’ll be on frequency 12 since I know I haven’t heard any unfriendly radio chatter on it.”

“Roger that.”

\---

Wash didn’t expect the entire plan to fail as horribly as it was at this moment. The Reds were pushed back into a bunker, the five of them holding off most of the remaining forces that came on all sides. However, the Blues were scattered. Caboose was last seen trying to implant the Freckles chip into a Wraith in hopes of his super best friend being even more super. Grif had given him the idea, though it had only resulted in Caboose running over a few Fed soldiers. He still hadn’t seen Tucker since that initial push out into the open area of the base. 

“Agent Washington.” Wash froze as he heard metal click against the back of his helmet. The cold reverberation of Locus’ voice through his helmet’s microphone caused him pause, unflinching in his crouched position.

“Get up,” Locus commanded, the gun still level with vital spots in Wash’s armor, “drop the weapon and turn around.” Wash set the DMR on the ground next to him, straightening his legs to stand and slowly spun to face the soldier. He expected to see Locus behind him. He expected to see the barrel of a gun leveled at his chest. He expected to see Felix behind Locus, presumably grinning behind the sliver of black on his visor. He didn’t expect to see Tucker in front of Felix, his hands bound behind him, helmet discarded with Felix’s knife to his throat.

Wash’s eyes widened, thankful his own helmet was still in place, though he was unsure how much longer that would last based on the level of vulnerability that the two mercenaries were going for. He clenched his fists, the only outward betrayal of his own emotions at seeing Locus and Felix getting the better of their team, the better of Tucker, the better of him. He noted the lack of gunshots in the time since Locus had cornered him.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance,” Locus ground out, motioning for Wash to step in front of him. Locus grabbed under his chin, pulling Wash’s face close to his. “I want you to know, Agent Washington, that while I should have killed you when I had the chance, you’ve been allowed to live not because of your actions here, but because we hoped you could be useful to our cause. However, your loyalty to these simulation troopers who should barely be called soldiers held you back. You could have joined us.”

“Now why would I do that, when you would have had to split your earnings another way? Doesn’t sound like the objective of a mercenary in it for the money to give up more of what’s due to him,” Wash spat back, attempting to jerk his head away.

“You were also useless because this asshole right here fucked everything up by going after you,” Felix chimed in, the worried look on Tucker’s face growing, “I found the entire display hilarious when he kept steering every conversation back to you, Wash. He made sure the soldiers at the New Republic base knew that you were all he cared about. He got two people killed for no reason, just in the hopes that he would find out information about where you were kept, or did he not tell you that?” Locus’ fingers had taken the time to fumble with the seals of Wash’s helmet, hissing as they let go of the clasps. Locus tore the helmet off, discarding it and ordering Wash to stand in front of him, facing Tucker. “Probably another thing you didn’t know, then. Tucker doesn’t tell you everything then. Just whispers to you? I could tell he was thinking about you each time I fucked him anyway. He wouldn’t look me in the eye. He just closed his eyes, biting his lip and well, you know.” Felix drank in the shocked look on Wash’s face as he stared at Tucker who refused to meet his gaze. Locus’ gun stayed leveled at the base of Wash’s neck, the cold of the metal warmed by the skin. 

“Are you done yet?” Locus ground out, “the other one is staring at Agent Washington like he’s never seen his face before. Let’s be done with this.” 

“Has he, Wash? Or are you so guarded that you wouldn’t let him see your face. Did you even know he cared about you so much?” Felix teased, “no? Okay. Locus, go.”

“Where are we go---” The shot rang out before Wash had the chance to take the step toward Tucker. Locus had positioned the barrel of the Magnum at the base of Wash skull, pulling the trigger the second he took a step. Tucker forced his eyes shut, the spray from the exit wound on the top of Wash’s head hitting part of his face. He marveled in Locus’ ability not to shoot straight through, though that was likely to cause Tucker more pain. Nothing could compare to seeing someone you wished was your lover killed before you.

“Now, your turn.” Tucker had just a moment to wonder what Felix meant before the blade dug into his throat, the warm liquid coating the front of him as his legs gave out and he fell next to Wash. 

“Come on, Felix. I hear someone,” Locus urged, strapping his pistol back to his thigh and readying his sniper rifle. Felix wiped Tucker’s blood off, blowing a kiss before running out the door.

Tucker spent his last few moments struggling to process where they had gone so wrong before the world fuzzed and faded out. 

\---

Carolina rounded the corner in the side of the base embedded in the rocks, heading into the main part of the room. She moved to check the ramps leading to the roof of the base before stopping. She couldn’t help but curse in a hushed tone as she saw the two unhelmeted soldiers laid next to one another in front of her. She noted they almost looked peaceful if it weren’t for the pool they were laying in.


End file.
